The New Leave It to Beaver

The New Leave It to Beaver (also known as Still the Beaver) is an American sitcom sequel to the 1950s and 1960s series, Leave It to Beaver.

It is one of the rare examples of a television series revival sequel (not spin-off) that revolves around the characters from the original series. Other examples of this include The New WKRP in Cincinnati and What's Happening Now!!, as well as the sequel to Dallas and the two sequel series to The Brady Bunch.

In the television movie, Still the Beaver, Corey Feldman played Beaver's oldest son, Corey Cleaver. For the series, the part of the eldest son was played by Kipp Marcus and was renamed "Ward II" after his grandfather, though he went by the nickname "Kip".

History

The New Leave It to Beaver began with the 1983 CBS TV movie Still the Beaver.^[2] The reunion became so popular that it was picked up in 1984 as a Disney Channel series with the same name; however, it only lasted one season. It was then revived by TBS in 1986 as the show, The New Leave It to Beaver. Universal was to produce 72 episodes for TBS while retaining all advertising time during the show.^[1] The series, also syndicated in the late 1980s, lasted until June 1989.

Synopsis

The series focuses on Wally Cleaver (Tony Dow) and his younger brother, Theodore "Beaver" Cleaver (Jerry Mathers) as adults and with families of their own. The Beaver is divorced and living with his mother, the widowed June Cleaver (Barbara Billingsley), along with his two sons, Kip and Oliver. Wally Cleaver lives next door with his wife Mary Ellen, his daughter Kelly and later, his son Kevin. Hugh Beaumont, who played Ward Cleaver in the original series, had died in 1982. His character, Ward, died in 1977.

Other series regulars included Wally's old friend Eddie Haskell (Ken Osmond) and his sons Freddie and Bomber (played by Osmond's two real-life sons), as well as "Lumpy" Rutherford (Frank Bank) and his daughter J.J., with Diane Brewster returning for four episodes to recreate her role as "Miss Canfield," Beaver's original grade school teacher. Some of Beaver's old friends, Larry Mondello (Rusty Stevens), and Richard Rickover (Rich Correll), return to the series.

Cast

• Barbara Billingsley as June Cleaver
• Tony Dow as Wally Cleaver
• Jerry Mathers as Theodore "Beaver" Cleaver
• Ken Osmond as Eddie Haskell
• Frank Bank as Clarence "Lumpy" Rutherford
• Kipp Marcus as Ward "Kip" Cleaver II
• John Snee as Oliver "Olly" Cleaver
• Kaleena Kiff as Kelly Cleaver
• Eric Osmond as Freddie Haskell
• Janice Kent as Mary Ellen Cleaver
• Troy Davidson as Kevin Cleaver (Season 3 & 4)
• Ellen Maxted as Gertrude "Gert" Haskell
• Christian Osmond as Eddie "Bomber" Haskell Jr.
• Giovanni Ribisi as Duffy Guthrie
• Diane Brewster as Miss Canfield
• Rusty Stevens as Larry Mondello
• Rich Correll as Richard Rickover

Episodes

Still the Beaver

Television Movie / Pilot

• Still the Beaver (March 19, 1983); a 2-hour CBS television movie, later repackaged into four 30-minute "pilot" episodes as part of The New Leave It to Beaver series on TBS. These were referred to as "special episodes" in an added voice-over by Barbara Billingsley and were known as:

1. "Still the Beaver - Part I"
2. "Still the Beaver - Part II"
3. "Still the Beaver - Part III"
4. "Still the Beaver - Part IV"

Season 1 (1984–1985)

This season aired on The Disney Channel as Still the Beaver.

1. "Growing Pains"
2. "Supply and Demand"
3. "Thanksgiving Day"
4. "The Gladiators"
5. "Girl Talk"
6. "Pet Peeves"
7. "Haskells vs. Cleavers"
8. "Dear Pen Pal"
9. "No Free Lunch"
10. "Paper Tiger"
11. "Our Big Girl"
12. "The Piano Lesson"
13. "Slumber Party"
14. "Escape from the Salt Mines"
15. "Steppin' Out"
16. "Father's Day"
17. "Give and Take"
18. "String of Pearls"
19. "Movin' On"
20. "Carried Away"
21. "Violet Rutherford Returns"
22. "Sink or Swim"
23. "Punching In"
24. "Wow"
25. "A Boy and His Snake"
26. "While the Beave's Away"
27. "Dear Pen Pal II"

New Leave It to Beaver

Season 1 (1986–1987)

From this season onward, the show aired on TBS as The New Leave It to Beaver.

1. "Puppy Love"
2. "A Day in Mayfield"
3. "In the Wings"
4. "On the Wrong Track"
5. "A Farewell to Freddie"
6. "Birth Announcement"
7. "Heavy Metal"
8. "Dumb Luck"
9. "In the Dark"
10. "Miss Honeywell Comes to Town"
11. "Bad Poetry"
12. "The Brothers Cleaver"
13. "A Slice of Life"
14. "Earth Angels"
15. "Perfect Candidate"
16. "Murder in Mayfield"
17. "I Had It All"
18. "Yesterday's Gone"
19. "How's Your Bird?"
20. "Home For Christmas"
21. "Got to Get You Out of My Life"
22. "Does Not a Woman Make"
23. "The Bestest Dad"
24. "Material Girl"
25. "The Bruise Brothers"
26. "A Night in Mayfield"
27. "Super Sunday"

Season 2 (1987–1988)

1. "First Base"
2. "Life Without Father"
3. "Perfect Harmony"
4. "A Part of Life"
5. "See You In Court"
6. "Oops"
7. "Ensign Cleaver"
8. "Between Friends"
9. "DRVRS-ED"
10. "The Terrible Lizards"
11. "And Everybody's Happy"
12. "Plenty of Fish in the Sea"
13. "Wrap Party"
14. "It's a Small World"
15. "Don't Go Changing"
16. "Madcap Dreams"
17. "Pacific Overture"
18. "The End of the World"
19. "Junior Prom"
20. "Day Dreamin'"
21. "Teenage Rebellion"
22. "Inside Eddie Haskell"
23. "Cursed Again"
24. "The Great Debate"
25. "A Casual Affair"
26. "Hook, Line and Sinker"
27. "Gosh, Wally"
28. "Family Scrapbook II"

Season 4 (1988–1989)

1. "First Down"
2. "Chew Slowly"
3. "On a Roll"
4. "Party Line"
5. "Road Trip"
6. "Beyond the Sandbox"
7. "What Has Four Legs and Flies?"
8. "Darkness on the Edge of Mayfield"
9. "Still The New Leave It To Beaver"
10. "And Freddie Makes Three"
11. "What If?"
12. "Rockets Red Glare"
13. "The Return of the Monster in the Closet"
14. "A Day At the Mall"
15. "Brother vs. Brother "
16. "Shortcuts"
17. "Man's Greatest Achievements"
18. "Dads and Grads (Part 1)"
19. "Dads and Grads (Part 2)"

Awards and nominations

Syndication and DVDs

According to series costars Frank Bank and Ken Osmond in a May 28, 2008 internet radio interview at shokusradio.com, the reason the series has not aired in American syndication since the early 1990s is because Universal sold the show's master videos and distribution rights to Qintex Productions (named after an Australian company), which served as the distributor when first-run episodes were aired in US syndication and went out of business shortly after the purchase was made, leaving the broadcast rights in limbo. This is also the reason why the series may never be released on DVD. However, according to the Bank/Osmond interview, the show does on a rare occasion air in British and Australian markets.

References

External links

• Still the Beaver at the Internet Movie Database (Television movie)
• The New Leave It to Beaver at the Internet Movie Database
• The New Leave It to Beaver at TV.com